Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Question 165: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the way Ireland's recycling rates compare with those of other EU Member States; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7487/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland has been very successful in recent years in meeting both national and international targets for recycling across a number of specified waste streams. Almost 35%, or a remarkable 964,367 tonnes, of our municipal waste (i.e. household and commercial waste) was recycled in 2005 indicating that our national recycling target of 35% for 2013, as set out in the 1998 Changing Our Ways policy statement on waste management, was achieved a full eight years ahead of schedule.

While Ireland is required to report to the European Commission in respect of our progress on a wide range of EU Directives, no composite up-to-date information in relation to overall waste recycling is available for Member States across the EU. Data in relation to the original EU 15 Member States is available for municipal solid waste in respect of the years 1999/2000 — see following table — but as can be seen Ireland has made rapid progress since this data was compiled.

Ireland's recycling rate (60%) for packaging waste compares favourably with many EU countries who have long been regarded as leaders in environmental protection. As the attached table shows, Ireland is in sixth place amongst EU Member States on the basis of the data available for 2004, finishing higher than countries such as Sweden, France, Denmark and Finland. It must be borne in mind that countries that have higher recovery rates than Ireland have, in general, achieved this through thermal treatment with energy recovery, an option not available in Ireland.